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924guy · Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:31 pm Post subject: spiffing up the sport wheel..

been taking a little time each day to do a partial restoration on my steering wheel.. Originally i planned to recover it, even bought a nice agla kit from a fellow lister. But after looking at my existing leather, i decided i could "save" it. despite the fact that its almost 25 years old, it was actually in pretty good shape. A few scuffs, but mostly, it was the thread holding the leather wrap that was shot.. you can see in this picture where its separated at the seam, for almost the entire circumference of the wheel(indicated by the light color at the seam):

I used the thread from the agla kit, picked up a couple of extra curved needles, and taught myself how to sew leather (sort of.) its tough on the fingers, id recommend getting thimballs or something. Anyhow, working on it a bit each day i finally got it finished. I then polished it with "Scuff" remover shoe polish to bring back the sheen. Buffed it out a bit with my shoe brush, and heres the end result:

It looks alot better, but still retains the "patina" and comfort of the a well broken in wheel....well worth the trouble IMHO...
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Eric
78 924
82 931 SE "smokey"
99' VehiCross
Y2K Honda Insight
http://www.cardomain.com/id/924Guy
Performance by Pasha

My924gtc · Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1362 Location: 248

Nice bit of genuine restoration there Eric.
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MJ
'81 924 2.0L T
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Neil924 · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 4225 Location: Canada

That's more effort than I would have gone through.

Joes924Racer · Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 3:09 pm Post subject:

Great job .. Ive been thinking of getting a wheel skins kit
for 32 bucks they come in all sorts of colors looks like what you got
hmmm I like the guage pods.
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1979 porsche 924 Na
1980 porsche Turbo 931GT Replica
Have u ever driven a turbo.

924guy · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:44 am Post subject:

thanks guys, im really happy with it. the loose seams in the wheel leather have been annoying me for years...
I used to think $150 in labor was allot for this (i think thats what AGLA gets to do it for you) , after doing it myself, i think thats probably a bargain. Im guessing it took me probably about eight hours or so total, over the course of several days to get it done. But then again, I made some mistakes and had to start over a couple of times on some sections. It took me a bit to figure out the stitching pattern, and i learned not to cut off the thread until after i went back and tightened every stitch with a dental pick after having some stitches loosen up on me. complete replacement wouldve been a bit harder as well, you cant rush this stuff...
_________________
Eric
78 924
82 931 SE "smokey"
99' VehiCross
Y2K Honda Insight
http://www.cardomain.com/id/924Guy
Performance by Pasha

kye · Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:43 am Post subject:

yeah, I did the whole re-sewing job on my wheel when I bought the car, and it sounds like I had similar thoughts and experiences.. it takes a long time, is fiddly, hard on the fingers, you want to tighten the stitches after you've threaded it through but before you've tied it off, and it's well worth the time and effort once it's done.

nice work on the polish though - mine didn't quite get that kind of treatment!

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